Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS: Another ‘Final’ 911 arrives

Porsche reveals yet another ‘Final’ 997 911 – the Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS. Just the same as the 911 Carrera GTS but with 4WD. You’d never have guessed.

It’s never been easy to pick a 911 to buy. Despite all 911s looking much the same to all but the Porsche nutter, there’s a choice of at least a hundred different models (well, it feels like it when you try to decide), from the pure 911 Carrera 2 on up to the Turbo Cab and all the bonkers ‘Track’ 911s – the GT this and the RS that.

The changes on offer are much the same as you get on the RWD GTS. Although the Carrera 4 GTS doesn’t have to add the wider rear track from the Carrera 4 in to the mix as it already has it.

There’s an extra 23bhp to play with – a total of 402bhp – and this GTS gets to shove that through all four wheels. A manual ”box is standard, in which case you’ll hit 62mph in 4.6 seconds. Opt for the PDK ‘box and the computers will beat your efforts by 0.2 seconds. Oh, and the Cab is 0.2 seconds slower than that.

Cosmetic tweaks are not massive, with a couple of ‘GTS’ logos dotted around, a reflective strip between the rear lights (the 4WD 911 standard), a sport front apron with spoiler, bigger skirts and a set of 19″ Black RS Spyder alloys.

All the tweaks and changes make no difference to the official MPG – 26.9mpg – or to the emissions – 247g/km. Which just goes to show how useless the official tests are. Or how good car makers are at gaming them.

We think the Carrera 4 GTS will be the last 911 special before the 997 ends. But we thought that about last month’s 911 GT3 RS 4.0, so don’t rule out something else to mop up those few extra sales.